Crawl

In the ilk of "Jaws" homages (and rip offs), "Crawl" stands as one of the more palatable entrees.

There's nothing spectacular or groundbreaking about this fun summer riff, but that doesn't mean it offers no value. At the very least, we can celebrate the successful effort to make a non-sequel or movie based on preexisting IP. Granted, the threatening water predator vs. humans rose in the wake of the classic shark film, but this gator flick has enough original juice to stand firmly on its own.

Part of success comes from simple premise of "Crawl." In the opening phase of a Category 5 storm, a young woman, Haley, receives a call from her sister. Sis has been calling their dad and hasn't yet heard from him. She's worried, as he resides in the area slated to take the worst of the storm. Haley opts to brave the weather, make the two-hour trek and check on dear old dad.

When she arrives at his place, she finds her severely injured father and something even more concerning. Then she quickly understands why he hasn't picked up the phone.

Queue the giant alligators and ensuing chases that take place as Haley and her dad attempt to escape the flooded basement. Fortunately, Haley is a swimmer at the University of Florida, yes, the school with the gator mascot. Her speed and resilience make her a worthy adversary to the collection of gators, and she manages to narrowly avoid death in a string of riveting action scenes.

A few meandering moments explore family drama but don't do much more than fill time. These moments feel entirely forced and only serve to hinder the story's momentum.

The movie is at its best when it leans into the raw and truly frightening action sequences. Kaya Scoldelario displays a knack for playing a strong woman in peril. The movie doesn't work as well if she isn't so solid in the role of Haley.

The movie has no more depth than the shallow basement waters inhabited by the gators, but it's entertaining enough for cursory viewing experience, especially given the brisk 87-minute run time.

Despite 3 or 4 irritating scenes that transpire script mediocrity with let's say 1 or 2 appalling minutes, the film manages to scare the audience with panache, at least me anyway. I was indeed gesticulating in my armchair each time an alligator grabbed and shook a protagonist. Actually, it's not really surprising: as an euphemism, in the horror / thriller genre, Alexandre Aja is definitely not a padawan. Thus, Alexandre Aja has managed an effective film that successfully fulfills his objective: to keep the audience on the edge of the seat during 90 minutes.

Crawl concerns itself with a young woman who goes looking for her missing father in the eye of a hurricane. Eventually she finds him in the basement of the family holiday home, but he is injured and in desperate need of medical attention. There is also the growing problem of this being gator central, and the rapidly rising flood waters are giving them free reign around the town. So the quest to not drown or get eaten begins...

Despite being mostly enjoyable this film didn't really push the boat out (heheh) in any way. For 90% of the film there were just 2 characters, so the film is light on deaths, and when some random no-mark would show up you knew they'd soon be a victim. The gator effects were.... decent and the plot and atmosphere servicable. If you've seen any monster movies at all ever you will know exactly what to expect, but having said that if the concept appeals it's perfectly watchable.

I saw this in a theatre with my pal. Had high hopes with names like Aja, Raimi n Ghost House Pictures. The film is fast paced with sufficient kills. Only problem is the lack of character development of the extras. The last good crocodile film I revisited was Rogue n that film had some character development regarding the extras (fellas who get killed off) but in this film, extras r jus killed left right n cente, while our lead pair of father n daughter keeps hanging around in their basement with wounds. One of the best part about this film is the cinematography especially the constant rain n wind. Lots of crocodiles with vicious kills. Tension is maintained with a solid background music. Morgan Freeman's Hard Rain n Bait 3D came to mind while viewing this.

A bit of a surprise and a tense and terrifying one at that. It knows what it is and because of that it's able to do what it does and do it well. Good looking Alligators.